The death of one of al-Qaeda's top commanders is a "big blow" for Osama bin Laden's terror network, Pakistan's interior minister said yesterday.
Officials said on Saturday that the death of Hamza Rabia, believed responsible for planning overseas strikes, had been confirmed by DNA tests after an explosion last week in one of Pakistan's tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan.
"He was a high-profile commander in the network," Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao told reporters. "Naturally any person killed in their hierarchy is a big blow for them."
However, neither Sherpao nor top army spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan would confirm reports that Rabia was killed by missiles launched from pilotless US airplanes.
"We have no such information," Sultan said.
Rabia, a key associate of al-Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri, died Thursday in an explosion in the North Waziristan tribal area, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said on Saturday.
Two US counterterrorism officials, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because of the information's sensitivity, said Rabia was believed to be an Egyptian and head of al-Qaeda's foreign operations, possibly as senior as the No. 3 in the terrorist group, which puts him at a level just below bin Laden and al-Zawahri.
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